CHAMP Act Robs Seniors Of Health Coverage While Delivering Higher Costs
Statement from Scott P. Serota, president and CEO Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association
August 1, 2007
WASHINGTON – In response to the "Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act" (CHAMP Act) passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, Scott P. Serota, president and CEO of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA), issued the following statement:
"The CHAMP Act would rip the security blanket of health coverage and comprehensive, coordinated care from millions of older Americans while saddling them with higher healthcare costs. The massive funding cuts to Medicare Advantage (MA) would rob our most vulnerable Americans – the disabled, the elderly and the low-income – of affordable healthcare choices.
Ironically, the House has approved an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) while doling out monumental cutbacks in coverage for seniors and disabled Americans. The effects of these cuts will be felt in communities nationwide as MA beneficiaries will find their benefits have been gutted with no recourse.
According to an earlier study by Emory University researcher Kenneth Thorpe, funding cutbacks to MA, such as those outlined in the CHAMP Act (three-year phase-in to 100 percent of fee-for-service), would result in 3 million people losing their coverage. And more than 600,000 beneficiaries in 23 rural states would have no access to MA options if these cuts were enacted. Millions of Americans will wind up paying more and receiving less.
Congress should reject the CHAMP Act, which eliminates private plan options and would bring long-lasting devastating consequences for Medicare beneficiaries. The gutting of MA will undermine coordinated care programs that are essential to addressing the long-term, costly burden of chronic disease.
BCBSA urges lawmakers to work together on a bipartisan proposal that would reauthorize SCHIP without using MA to pay for the expansion of Medicare and jeopardize health benefits for 8.7 million seniors and disabled Americans."
The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association is a national federation of 39 independent, community-based and locally operated Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies that collectively provide healthcare coverage for 100 million members - one-in-three Americans. For more information on the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and its member companies, please visit www.BCBS.com.
